Sneak Peek Sunday … New Clashes and Old Hurts

Welcome to Sara Walter Ellwood’s Sneak Peek Sunday!

This past couple weeks, we’ve been enjoying a particularly pleasant turn of the season from summer to fall. Most days, we wake up to blessedly cool, crisp mornings and dew on the grass, but the afternoon temps climb into the sunny 70s and 80s. I’ll take this weather for as long as we can get it.

One thing I did this summer was dig into my TBR pile, and several fun reads were by authors I found right here on Sneak Peek Sunday. For readers of contemporary paranormal romance, I highly recommend Karen Michelle Nutt’s MAGIC OF THE LOCH, in which readers are introduced to the real  story behind the Legend of Loch Ness.  (And should I mention the sexy Scottish brothers who… ahem, you’ll find no spoilers here.) Check it out. ;).

A childhood promise bound them together.
A war and a secret tore them apart.

And now on to today’s peek. This is from ALWAYS, a heartwarming friends-to-lovers romance set in post Civil War Pennsylvania.

June 1865.
After four war-torn years away, Emily Winters returns to her home town determined to face down old rumors and do whatever it takes to resurrect her late father’s printing business.

Last week, Emily had just stepped off the train from Baltimore, where she’d been living with a maiden aunt. It took the news of her father’s sudden death to bring her home. On her way through town, she was shocked to run into her childhood best friend, Ross Gallagher, who had been reported killed during the war.

In today’s peek, Ross walks Emily home along the same country road they took as school children, and it’s not long before they fall back into the easy warm banter of their youth. That is, until Emily asks Ross what he’s doing for a living. Ross knows she won’t like his answer. He’s a reporter for the rival newspaper that helped drive Emily’s father out of business…

*

Silence. Ross turned to meet her hard stare. The afternoon breeze loosened a wisp of dark hair from her chignon to stray across her face. She batted it away, not taking her eyes from him. “The Herald. You’re working for that vile Malcolm Davenport. Again.”

And so there it was, hanging in the air between them. As damning as if no time had passed at all. Betrayal. “He offered me a job,” Ross said evenly. “Your father wasn’t in a position to do that.”

“You didn’t have to take it.”

Ross felt his own anger stirring. “What was I supposed to do? Starve on principle?”

“That wouldn’t have been a bad start. Many writers do.”

“Your father understood my position, Emily. Why can’t you?”

“I’m not my father.”

*

It looks like time might not have healed all wounds.  The war has taught Ross that life can be short and fate can be cruel. A man must take opportunities when they’re offered.  But will Emily be able to put past hurts behind them?

For more sneak peeks, hop on over to SNEAK PEEK SUNDAY HERE!

 

Sneak Peek Sunday … Always

Welcome to Sara Walter Ellwood’s Sneak Peek Sunday!

It’s great to be back from a busy summer. What did you do to pass the days? Work? Play? Travel? One thing I look forward to each summer is vacationing by the sea, where we can walk on the beach, lounge by the pool, and take a day trip or two. Oh, and eat. A lot. Of seafood. 🙂

It was also the perfect time to indulge in the TBR pile. I’ll post here in coming weeks some SPS titles, but the first mention goes to Sara Walter Ellwood’s GAMBLING ON A SECRET. I absolutely loved this sexy contemporary western romance with an ex-military hero, a spirited heroine with a secret, and enough compelling emotion to keep the pages turning. I can’t wait to start the second book in this series!

A childhood promise bound them together.
A war and a secret tore them apart.

And now for today’s peek. This is the first excerpt from ALWAYS, a book that departs a bit from my usual M.O.  It’s a small town, friends-to-lovers romance set in post Civil War Pennsylvania.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, June 1865
After four war-torn years away, Emily Winters returns to her home town determined to face down old rumors and do whatever it takes to resurrect her late father’s printing business. Unfortunately, what it will take is help from Ross Gallagher, the only man she’s ever loved and the last man she wants to turn to.

Ross has survived the war and returned to rebuild the life he left behind. He’s a successful reporter and set to marry his boss’s daughter. Until Emily steps off the train. Ross made a promise to Emily when they were children. It’s a promise he means to keep, but Emily guards a secret that stands between them.

*

In today’s peek, Emily has just arrived from Baltimore. It’s taken the news of her father’s death to bring her home. As she walks through town, she’s stung when she comes face to face with the cold reality of her loss. Her father’s weekly newspaper and print shop is shuttered. A “For Rent” sign appears in the window.

What Emily doesn’t expect when she stops to peer through the window of the deserted shop is to hear a familiar voice speak up from behind. It’s a voice she never thought she’d hear again…

*

“Em? Emily?”

Her hands fell to her sides, her heart skipped a dreadful beat. She recognized that voice, but of course, it couldn’t be him. Her imagination was playing cruel tricks. She’d been nervous about returning home, and naturally she’d been thinking of him, and—

“Emily Winters! I’ll be damned! It is you, isn’t it?”

Emily didn’t turn around. She couldn’t. Her disbelieving gaze fixed on a blurred image in the window glass, the reflection of a young man standing behind her on the street. It couldn’t be…  She forced herself to turn, slowly, as if in a dream, half expecting him not to be there, half expecting that the hazy, distorted image in the glass was the whole of him, the essence of a ghost long since dead.

But he was there. He had changed over the years. Gone was the boy she had known. His youthful features had been replaced by the rugged, hard-angled face of a man. And those shadows beneath his eyes. Could they be testimony to the suffering and tragedy he had witnessed in war?

“Emily! How long has it been?” He looked at her, too, as if she were some sort of mirage, as if he could scarcely believe his eyes.

*

There’s a very good reason Emily is stunned to find her childhood best friend, Ross Gallagher, standing before her alive and well. Can you guess what it is?

For more sneak peeks, hop on over to SNEAK PEEK SUNDAY HERE!